Kim Komando’s Tech Tips & Advice: ChatGPT & Plaid

Besides the Car Pro Show and our weekly newsletter,  my other favorite radio show and newsletter is Kim Komando’s. We are on many of the same radio stations across America. She does for her listeners and newsletter subscribers exactly what I endeavor to do: Give you useful information to keep you up to date on the latest in cars, only she does it with technology and there is nobody who does it better. Not sure how she puts out a top-notch newsletter seven days a week, but she does.

With her permission, I comb her newsletters each week and curate a list of her tips and advice that I think you'll find relevant and interesting. Here's what I have for you this week!

As shared in Kim Komando's newsletters:

• Paramedics check your lock screen first: If something goes wrong, make sure they find the right name. On iPhone: Health > Medical ID, add emergency contacts and flip on Show When Locked. On Android: Settings > Safety and emergency > Emergency contacts, then turn on Show on Lock Screen. Takes two minutes. Do it now.

• Drive-by fraud: So a Boca Raton Lyft driver allegedly tried to make Google Gemini his cleanup crew. He accused a teen passenger of wrecking his car, submitted an AI-generated photo as proof, and Lyft charged her dad a cleaning fee. How schemy! The teen caught the fake immediately. Lyft confirmed the image was bogus, sanctioned the driver, and now police may get involved. An idea, quickly snap a pic of the back seat as you leave your rideshare.

• Robot budget buddy: ChatGPT wants to become the nosy accountant inside your checking account. OpenAI is plugging it into Plaid, the service apps use to link bank accounts, so the bot can study your spending and offer advice. Useful? Maybe. This is the same category of data that shows your paychecks, debts, medical copays and every regrettable Target run. The moment AI categorizes my spending, it’ll build a tiny courtroom and sentence me to 40 years of store-brand cereal.

• Automotive angels: I believe in highway humanity again. Three drivers on a busy road saw a car weaving across lanes and, with absolutely no committee meeting, boxed it in to slow traffic until emergency services got there. One driver had been on with 911 for 10 solid minutes. The other two were strangers who read the room at 65 mph. TikTok went nuts because nobody honked, nobody bailed, strangers helped. I love some good teamwork, watch the video now. BTW, no word on why the driver was obviously impaired.

• Lipreading is overrated: Can’t hear your phone in a noisy place? Turn on Live Captions. Videos, podcasts, even calls show up as real-time text on your screen. On iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions. On Android: Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Enhancements > Live Caption. Loud room: defeated.

• 3-second tech genius: Netflix has secret keyboard shortcuts. While watching, press M to mute, F for full screen and numbers 1 through 9 to jump to 10% through 90% of whatever you’re watching. Lost your place? Press 5 and you’re at the halfway point instantly. The remote was optional this whole time.

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